Carbon and water footprint for the recycling process of expanded polystyrene (EPS) post-consumer waste

[Abstract] Plastic pollution of the natural environment is ubiquitous, and around 40% of all plastic waste produced globally is used in single-use products and only 9% is recycled. From this plastic waste, expandable polystyrene single-use products pose a major problem because of its great volume and low density. To abord this issue, the authors proposed a circular economy model for EPS post-consumer waste in 2019 through a case study with the help of one local plastic manufacturer. Although the idea of promoting circularity of this waste seems a priori to have a good impact on the environment, the process to reincorporate reused and/or recycled materials under the concept of CE have economic and environmental impacts on the environment that should be measured. To understand if a recycling process is truly beneficial to the environment, first we need to do a sustainability analysis, using sustainability indicators, such as Carbon Footprint (CF) and Water Footprint (WF). The objective of the present paper is to perform a sustainability analysis of the expandable polystyrene post-consumer recycling into resin pellets using CF and WF as sustainability indicators. We proposed three case scenarios considering an artisanal recycling with 2019 (A), and 2027 proposed electricity power mix (B), industrial recycling with current 2019 electricity power mix (C) and the use of virgin PS and its destination in landfill to compare. We measured the CO2 emissions and m3 of freshwater with the help of SimaPro 9.1 software. Overall, the total CO2 emissions for the case scenarios A and B are approximately 42% and 16% higher than scenario D, but scenario C exhibits a reduction of almost 50%. For the water depletion, scenarios A and B show very higher values than those of scenario D with 536% and 534%, respectively. Important to mention that scenario B presents much better values for CF than scenario A, meaning that the increase in the share of electricity production by renewable energies can improve the sustainable production of recycled PS resin

Phage Ø29 Protein p6 Is in a Monomer−Dimer Equilibrium That Shifts to Higher Association States at the Millimolar Concentrations Found in Vivo

Protein p6 from Bacillus subtilis phage Ø29 (Mr = 11 800) binds in vitro to DNA forming a large nucleoprotein complex in which the DNA wraps a multimeric protein core. The high intracellular abundance of protein p6 together with its ability to bind the whole Ø29 DNA in vitro strongly suggests that it plays a role in viral genome organization. We have determined by sedimentation equilibrium analysis that protein p6 (1−100 μM range), in the absence of DNA, is in a monomer−dimer equilibrium, with an association constant (K2) of 2 × 105 M-1. The intracellular concentration of protein p6 (1 mM) was estimated measuring the number of copies per cell (7 × 105) and the cell volume (1 × 10-15 L). At concentrations around 1 mM, protein p6 associates into oligomers. This self-association behavior is compatible with a dimer−hexamer model (K2,6 = 3.2 × 108 M-2) or with an isodesmic association of the dimer (K = 950 M-1), because the apparent weight-average molecular mass (Mw,a) does not reach saturation at the highest protein concentrations. The sedimentation coefficients of protein p6 monomer and dimer were 1.4 and 2.0, respectively, compatible with translational frictional ratios (f/fo) of 1.15 and 1.30, which slightly deviate from the hydrodynamics of a rigid globular protein. Taking together these results and considering the structure of the nucleoprotein complex, we speculate that the observed oligomers of protein p6 could mimic a scaffold on which DNA folds to form the nucleoprotein complex in vivo.Peer reviewe

Caracterización de la acción sísmica enfocada a estudios de riesgo sísmico a escala urbana. Aplicaciones en Almería y Alhama de Granada.

Una de las principales diferencias entre estudios de riesgo símico a escalas regional y urbana se refiere a la caracterización de la acción sísmica. En los estudios regionales, se impone el método probabilista, en el que habitualmente el resultado se expresa por medio de mapas de aceleración esperada para un periodo de retorno dado y espectros de peligrosidad uniforme. Sin embargo, en los estudios urbanos se requiere un mayor grado de detalle, tanto en la definición de las fuentes sismogenéticas como en la caracterización del movimiento esperado, sobre el que inciden de manera fundamental posibles efectos de resonancia con el suelo en el emplazamiento y/o con las estructuras asentadas en el mismo. En este trabajo se presentan diversas propuestas de caracterización de la acción sísmica en entornos urbanos. Para su aplicación práctica, se usarán datos de dos localidades concretas: Almería, donde se usará un escenario sísmico compatible con el sismo de control de la peligrosidad en rangos de aceleración esperados para un periodo de retorno de 475 años y en Alhama de Granada, donde el movimiento sísmico corresponde al que generaría un terremoto similar al de Andalucía de 1884, con fuente en la falla de Zafarraya

Development and characterization of an eggplant (Solanum melongena) doubled haploid population and a doubled haploid line with high androgenic response

[EN] We developed an eggplant doubled haploid (DH) population from a commercial hybrid through androgenesis in microspore culture. Morphological variation, reproductive ability and androgenic responsiveness were evaluated. The DH population showed segregation in vegetative traits related to leaf, flower and fruit, and in reproductive traits such as fruit and seed setting or germination rate. The DH population and subsequent generations also presented variation in the androgenic response, with null, low and high response lines. From this population, we were able to identify the first eggplant highly androgenic DH line (DH36), remarkably similar to the donor hybrid in terms of morphology and reproductive ability, but stably producing four times more calli than the hybrid. The segregating DH population is potentially useful for genetic studies and mapping of several traits, whereas the highly androgenic line DH36 may be used as a model line to facilitate the study of eggplant androgenesis and embryogenesis for both basic and applied research.We would like to thank the reviewers of this manuscript for their critical and helpful comments. This work was supported by Grant AGL2014-55177-R to JMSS from Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) jointly funded by FEDER. ARS is supported by a Predoctoral Fellowship from the FPI Program of Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Rivas-Sendra, A.; Manuel Campos-Vega; Calabuig-Serna, A.; Seguí-Simarro, JM. (2017). Development and characterization of an eggplant (Solanum melongena) doubled haploid population and a doubled haploid line with high androgenic response. 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Euphytica 195:369–382Corral-Martínez P, Parra-Vega V, Seguí-Simarro JM (2013) Novel features of Brassica napus embryogenic microspores revealed by high pressure freezing and freeze substitution: evidence for massive autophagy and excretion-based cytoplasmic cleaning. J Exp Bot 64:3061–3075Daghma DES, Hensel G, Rutten T, Melzer M, Kumlehn J (2014) Cellular dynamics during early barley pollen embryogenesis revealed by time-lapse imaging. Front Plant Sci 5:675Doğramacı-Altuntepe M, Peterson TS, Jauhar PP (2001) Anther culture-derived regenerants of durum wheat and their cytological characterization. J Hered 92:56–64Dumas de Vaulx R, Chambonnet D (1982) Culture in vitro d’anthères d’aubergine (Solanum melongena L.): stimulation de la production de plantes au moyen de traitements à 35°C associés à de faibles teneurs en substances de croissance. 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Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 104:375–386Ferrie AMR, Palmer CE, Keller WA (1995) Haploid embryogenesis. In: Thorpe TA (ed) In vitro embryogenesis in plants. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 309–344Forster BP, Heberle-Bors E, Kasha KJ, Touraev A (2007) The resurgence of haploids in higher plants. Trends Plant Sci 12:368–375Frary A, Doganlar S, Daunay MC (2007) Eggplant. In: Kole C (ed) Vegetables. Springer, Berlin, pp 287–313Germanà MA (2011a) Anther culture for haploid and doubled haploid production. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 104:283–300Germanà MA (2011b) Gametic embryogenesis and haploid technology as valuable support to plant breeding. Plant Cell Rep 30:839–857Hoekstra S, Vanzijderveld MH, Louwerse JD, Heidekamp F, Vandermark F (1992) Anther and microspore culture of Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Igri. Plant Sci 86:89–96Immonen S, Robinson J (2000) Stress treatments and Ficoll for improving green plant regeneration in triticale anther culture. Plant Sci 150:77–84Kaeppler SM, Kaeppler HF, Rhee Y (2000) Epigenetic aspects of somaclonal variation in plants. Plant Mol Biol 43:179–188Kasha KJ, Simion E, Miner M, Letarte J, Hu TC (2003) Haploid wheat isolated microspore culture protocol. In: Maluszynski M, Kasha KJ, Forster BP, Szarejko I (eds) Doubled haploid production in crop plants. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 77–82Li H, Soriano M, Cordewener J, Muiño JM, Riksen T, Fukuoka H, Angenent GC, Boutilier K (2014) The histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A promotes totipotency in the male gametophyte. Plant Cell 26:195–209Malik MR, Wang F, Dirpaul J, Zhou N, Hammerlindl J, Keller W, Abrams SR, Ferrie AMR, Krochko JE (2008) Isolation of an embryogenic line from non-embryogenic Brassica napus cv. Westar through microspore embryogenesis. J Exp Bot 59:2857–2873Miah MAA, Earle ED, Khush GS (1985) Inheritance of callus formation ability in anther cultures of rice, Oryza sativa L. 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Crop Sci 30:188–192Rivas-Sendra A, Corral-Martínez P, Camacho-Fernández C, Seguí-Simarro JM (2015) Improved regeneration of eggplant doubled haploids from microspore-derived calli through organogenesis. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 122:759–765Rizza F, Mennella G, Collonnier C, Shiachakr D, Kashyap V, Rajam MV, Prestera M, Rotino GL (2002) Androgenic dihaploids from somatic hybrids between Solanum melongena and S. aethiopicum group Gilo as a source of resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae. Plant Cell Rep 20:1022–1032Rotino GL (1996) Haploidy in eggplant. In: Jain SM, Sopory SK, Veilleux RE (eds) In vitro haploid production in higher plants. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 115–141Rotino GL, Restaino F, Gjomarkaj M, Massimo M, Falavigna A, Schiavi M, Vicini E (1991) Evaluation of genetic variability in embryogenetic and androgenetic lines of eggplant. Acta Hortic 300:357–362Rotino GL, Sihachakr D, Rizza F, Vale G, Tacconi MG, Alberti P, Mennella G, Sabatini E, Toppino L, D’Alessandro A, Acciarri N (2005) Current status in production and utilization of dihaploids from somatic hybrids between eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and its wild relatives. Acta Physiol Plant 27:723–733Salas P, Prohens J, Seguí-Simarro JM (2011) Evaluation of androgenic competence through anther culture in common eggplant and related species. Euphytica 182:261–274Salas P, Rivas-Sendra A, Prohens J, Seguí-Simarro JM (2012) Influence of the stage for anther excision and heterostyly in embryogenesis induction from eggplant anther cultures. Euphytica 184:235–250Sanguineti MC, Tuberosa R, Conti S (1990) Field evaluation of androgenetic lines of eggplant. Acta Hortic 280:177–182Seguí-Simarro JM (2016) Androgenesis in Solanaceae. In: Germanà MA, Lambardi M (eds) In vitro embryogenesis. 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Sistema HW-SW de telerehabilitación y telemedicina para pacientes Epoc con hiperinsuflación pulmonar

La enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica es la cuarta causa de muerte en el mundo. Gran parte de estos enfermos no están diagnosticados y a medida que avanza la enfermedad empiezan a aparecer dificultades en la respiración y cambios en la fisiología pulmonar. Entre estos cambios está la hiperinsuflación, los pacientes hiperinsuflados retienen aire en los pulmones. Por lo tanto, estos pacientes requieren de un seguimiento y necesitan hacer ejercicios específicos con dispositivos PEP (Presión Espiratoria Postiva) para expulsar este aire. En este proyecto se implementa un sistema que comprenda la función de espirometría y la función de telerehabilitación. Para esto se desarrolla por un lado una aplicación móvil que será la interfaz gráfica y el motor de cálculo, por otro se diseña un espirómetro de turbina que mediante bluetooth envía la velocidad del aire exhalado a la aplicación, y por último dos boquillas intercambiables, una para las pruebas de espirometría y otra que será la boquilla PEP para ejercicios de rehabilitación. Para la boquilla PEP, la cual integra la misma turbina para poder contar revoluciones, se diseñará un juego que mediante estimulación visual avisará al paciente de cuando espira demasiado fuerte o demasiado lento, ayudando así a que los ejercicios se hagan correctamente. Para la boquilla de espirometría, se calcularán la FVC, la FEV1, el Índice de Tiffenau y la curva flujo volumen y se almacenarán los resultados para verlos gráficamente en función del tiempo. Con este proyecto, se pretende dar facilidades y solución a las personas que padecen esta patología, cuyas necesidades requieren de ayuda externa de centros médicos para realizar el seguimiento de su enfermedad y llevar a cabo la rehabilitación, de este modo, se ofrece la posibilidad de hacerlo desde casa y con un control equitativo al que podría dar el servicio técnico de un centro médico.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the world. Many of these patients are not diagnosed and as the disease progresses, breathing difficulties and changes in pulmonary physiology begin to appear. Among these changes is hyperinflation, hyperinflation patients retain air in the lungs. Therefore, these patients require follow-up and need to do specific exercises with PEP (Positive Expiratory Pressure) devices to expel this air. In this project we want to implement a system that includes the function of spirometry (calculation of lung function) and telerehabilitation function. For this reason, It is developed on the one hand a mobile application that will be the graphical interface and computer brain, on the other hand is designed a turbine spirometer that by bluetooth sends the velocity of the exhaled air to the application, and finally two replaceable nozzles, one for spirometry tests and another that will be the PEP nozzle for rehabilitation exercises. For the PEP nozzle, which integrates the same turbine to be able to count revolutions, a game will be designed that, through visual stimulation, will alert the patient when exhales too hard or too slow, thus helping the exercises to be performed correctly. For the spirometry nozzle, the FVC, FEV1, Tiffenau Index and volume flow curve will be calculated, and the results stored for graphing as a function of time. With this project, it is intended to provide facilities and solutions to people suffering from this pathology, whose needs require external help from medical centers to follow up their disease and carry out rehabilitation, thereby offering the possibility of do it from home and with equitable control that could give the technical service of a medical center.Universidad de Sevilla. TEP- 108: Robótica y Tecnología de Computadore

Strategy and creativity in the use of political slogans: A study of the elections held in Spain in 2019

The unquestionable predominance of slogans in political communication versus their declining relevance in the commercial kind underpins the objective of this study, which is to gain further insight into the strategies and creative discourses employed by political parties in their campaigning before the general, regional and local elections held in Spain in 2019, whereby the results are compared with those obtained in previous research. The aim is thus to determine the attributes of electoral slogans regarding such aspects as their semantic density, complexity, use of rhetorical devices, core focus or communication efficiency. Accordingly, this study is framed in the field of research on political advertising, employing content analysis. To this end, an analysis was performed on an extensive corpus of 197 slogans, selected according to the criteria of comprehensiveness, relevance and representativeness. In short, it can be claimed that the tendencies noted in previous studies have stabilized, albeit with some new developments in relation to briefness, the use of double or triple slogans, expressive focus, bilingualism, the use of visual resources (such as emoticons) or digital language (contractions), the presence of rhetorical devices, and the relevance of voters and candidates versus political parties, among other factors. Besides the specific evolution of their formal and content-related aspects, we argue that the relevance of political slogans still prevails, and rather than undermining their essence and uses, the advent of social media has instead enhanced them

Conservation of limpet populations: a heavily exploited resource in Azores, NE-Atlantic

10th International Temperate Reefs Symposium, The University of Western Australia, 12-17 de janeiro.Limpet harvesting in Azores (NE Atlantic) has been taking place probably since the islands were first colonized in the XV century. Limpet species are highly exploited and populations from most islands have declined steadily bringing about catastrophic effects on coastal communities. Despite their economic importance limpets are also ecologically key species and require prioritizing conservation strategies. Patellid limpets are broadcast spawners which go through a planktonic larval stage in their life cycle. They are benthic as adults and the larva is the only phase during their life-cycle which has the ability to disperse over assumed large spatial distances. However, there is now mounting evidence that gene flow between islands and mainlands can be low, even for species with a relatively long planktonic larval stage. Low levels of larval exchange may thus limit the success of conservation objectives expected upon migration and recruitment. In dispersive isolated oceanic islands such as the Macaronesian Islands, the Azores Archipelago in particular, is not clear whether limpet populations from different islands form a single meta-population or, in contrast, populations on each island are isolated from the rest. Knowledge on this scenario is crucial for the management and conservation of exploited populations of limpets. Here we have developed and described species-specific multiplexed microsatellite markers for the limpets Patella candei and Patella aspera using whole genome shotgun 454 sequencing. These genetic tools have allowed the study of the population genetic structure and evolutionary history of patellid species in the archipelago of Azores. Genetic studies, alongside with biological, ecological and oceanographic information, represent an important contribution for the understanding of population dynamics by allowing testing hypothesis about larval dispersal patterns, recruitment and life history traits, population connectivity, genetic diversity, and population equilibrium

The influence of colloidal parameters on the specific power absorption of PAA-coated magnetite nanoparticles

The suitability of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) to act as heat nano-sources by application of an alternating magnetic field has recently been studied due to their promising applications in biomedicine. The understanding of the magnetic relaxation mechanism in biocompatible nanoparticle systems is crucial in order to optimize the magnetic properties and maximize the specific absorption rate (SAR). With this aim, the SAR of magnetic dispersions containing superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles bio-coated with polyacrylic acid of an average particle size of ≈10 nm has been evaluated separately by changing colloidal parameters such as the MNP concentration and the viscosity of the solvent. A remarkable decrease of the SAR values with increasing particle concentration and solvent viscosity was found. These behaviours have been discussed on the basis of the magnetic relaxation mechanisms involved

La espectroscopía raman aplicada a la identificación de materiales pictóricos

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version